A review of the literature has shown that resource development such as forestry operations, mineral exploration, mining activities, hydro-electric transmission line construction, as well as quarrying, highway construction and tourism can negatively impact karst areas and thus caves and bat hibernacula.
Guidelines exist for karst, caves and bat hibernacula in many jurisdictions across Canada and the United States. Manitoba and Ontario are two provinces that have
management guidelines specific to bat hibernacula. Other provinces and states have forest land management plans, conservation plans for caves, or best management practices for specific bat species. These provide management guidelines for karst lands, as well as for caves and bat hibernacula.
Neither Falconbridge Ltd. nor Manitoba Hydro have written operating procedures for development occurring specifically in karst areas near bat hibernacula. However, Manitoba Hydro has indicated a willingness to incorporate such procedures into future guidelines. Tolko Industries Ltd. does have minimal guidelines in place for working near bat hibernacula but they are less restrictive than the provincial bat hibernacula management guidelines. As these provincial guidelines are not enforced, it is left to the goodwill of the resource developers to abide by them and act as stewards of the fragile karst landscape.
By undertaking a review of current karst and cave guidelines, best practices for resource developers were identified. Best practices incorporate an overall karst management strategy that includes an inventory of all caves in the karst area followed by a categorization/classification of the cave resource for management purposes. The best practice is to prohibit any resource development near and above caves that provide critical habitat for wildlife such as bats (i.e. removal from commercial land base).
In Gill’s thesis entitled “Manitoba Karst: A Strategy for Action” (1991), Gill concludes “land [in the Grand Rapids area] should be set aside to protect the most significant karst sites. The optimal designation is a National Park. The second best alternative is a Provincial Wilderness Park”. He recommended that the Parks Branch of
(then) Manitoba Natural Resources “conduct a joint feasibility study with the Canadian Parks Service, for the purpose of establishing a park in the Grand Rapids Uplands”.
Today, a federal park (“The Lowlands National Park”) has been proposed for part of the Grand Rapids uplands. Manitoba Conservation and the Parks Canada Agency can protect portions of the karst landscape and particular features such as caves, especially those known to be bat hibernacula, from resource development by ensuring the boundaries of the park encompass these features. This would effectively remove caves and bat hibernacula from the commercial land base.
Bats in the Grand Rapids uplands were found to use caves from mid-October through April, and possibly into May, with mean temperatures ranging from a low of 1.1 °C to a high of 4.8 °C. However, bats begin using the caves as early as August during
mating swarms (for reproduction) and begin hibernating as early as September.
The mean relative humidity of the four caves may not have been recorded accurately by the Hobo data loggers due to the highly condensing environment of the caves. However, the data do indicate that bats are using caves with very high relative humidities (>96%).
Most of the residents that the researcher spoke with were aware of bats and caves in the area, but they did not realize the sensitivity or importance of the caves to the bats. However, they do have a willingness and interest in learning about the importance of the caves, especially some of the forestry contractors who work on the karst landscape. Research and spelunking groups working in the Grand Rapids area should engage local people in their activities.
Recommendations can be made for better management of the karst and cave resources, and especially bat hibernacula, in the Grand Rapids uplands. Specific recommendations are listed below.
6.2RECOMMENDATIONS
“While governments have an important role to play in making land-use decisions and setting the rules for appropriate management, others – industry, Aboriginal peoples, local communities and NGOs – are equally important stewards of Canada’s lands and waters. However, these players have not always been systematically or effectively engaged in conservation planning over the last 10 years” (NRTEE, 2003).
¾ Manitoba Conservation should, therefore, establish an interdisciplinary karst management committee to draft a karst management plan for the Grand Rapids area, including a cave inventory and classification system where bat hibernacula would be classified as sensitive habitat and prescribed appropriate management guidelines. Guidelines may include the prohibition of resource development above or around caves as recommended by the BC Ministry of Forests and Alaska Forest Service. This could be accomplished by including karst features such as caves and bat hibernacula within the boundaries of the proposed Lowlands National Park.
¾ The interdisciplinary karst management committee should include representatives
from Manitoba Conservation (the Wildlife and Ecosystem Protection Branch, Forestry Branch, Industry, Trade and Mines Branch and the Water Resources
Branch), Grand Rapids First Nation, the town of Grand Rapids, Tolko Industries Ltd, Manitoba Hydro, Falconbridge Ltd. and any other industry proposing development in the Grand Rapids uplands, the Manitoba Museum, the Speleological Society of Manitoba, the University of Winnipeg and/or Manitoba. Representation should reflect the characteristics of the entire karst system and therefore include expertise in biology, geology, hydrogeology, and culture (Blackwell, 1995). Involving stakeholders in the guideline drafting process should ensure these guidelines are implemented in the field. However, it is incumbent upon Manitoba Conservation to ensure resource developers implement these guidelines. Therefore, they must either include the guidelines in Work Permits under The Crown Lands Act and/or draft regulations under the appropriate statutes (The Wildlife Act; The Forest Act) to protect fragile karst features including caves and those used as bat hibernacula.
¾ The Wildlife and Ecosystem Protection Branch of Manitoba Conservation should revise the current Bat Hibernacula Management Guidelines to incorporate guidelines for hydro-line transmission tower and right-of- way construction operations.
¾ Tolko Industries Ltd., Manitoba Hydro, and Falconbridge Ltd. should be required to develop operational procedures for working in karst landscapes, especially where caves are present, prior to commencing any resource development. A careful inventory of the area should be undertaken and cave locations should be recorded and reported to the Wildlife Director at the Wildlife and Ecosystem Protection Branch.
¾ Tolko Industries Ltd.’s “Forest Management Planning and Operating Practices –
Operators Guide” should be updated to include operating procedures in karst areas, especially where caves and bat hibernacula are known to exist. As is stated in the current guide, “operators play a critical role in implementing harvesting plans. The success in implementing FMPOPs cannot happen without the cooperation and understanding of people operating equipment in the field”. Tolko should ensure that Area Supervisors and local operators are aware of cave locations and encourage them to report the location of any and all caves to Tolko (and ultimately to the Wildlife and Ecosystem Protection Branch) before proceeding to cut.
¾ The Forestry Branch of Manitoba Conservation should include specific guidelines,
drafted in consultation with the Wildlife Branch, for bats and bat habitat in the next revision of the Forestry Guidelines for Wildlife. These guidelines should be incorporated into resource developers’ work permits to ensure they are implemented. The Forestry Branch should also incorporate sensitive sites such as bat hibernacula into the Provincial Forest Inventory database.
¾ The Forestry Branch of Manitoba Conservation should ensure that the Bat Hibernacula Management Guidelines be explicitly listed within Tolko’s FML Agreement under Section 15 D regarding forest management, which currently reads as “follow and implement forest management strategies to meet all the requirements of fisheries, wildlife, timber harvesting, forest renewal and any other relevant current or new guidelines for forest operations including but not limited to the following
published provincial guidelines [ a list of guidelines follows that does not include bat hibernacula management guidelines].”
¾ The Speleological Society of Manitoba should ensure that outreach and education about the karst landscape, caves, bats and bat hibernacula continues through Karst Summit meetings or other venues held in Grand Rapids and should expand into the local school system. Tolko Industries Ltd., Manitoba Hydro and Falconbridge Ltd. should ensure that they have representatives, including decision-makers and on-the- ground contractors and employees, attending and participating in these meetings.
¾ The Grand Rapids school board should encourage school programs that educate
students about the geological and biological resources in their community. Manitoba Conservation, Manitoba Hydro, Falconbridge Ltd., and Tolko Industries Ltd. should continue to fund cave and bat research projects and should also provide support for outreach and education programs in Grand Rapids, such as the Karst Summit meetings.
¾ Future research should involve an analysis of microclimatic conditions between caves that have been impacted and those that have not. This may be accomplished by monitoring a cave (not used as a hibernaculum) prior to harvesting activity and then after harvesting activity has occurred above the cave. Likewise, if Firecamp, Microwave, or Iguana Crypt are impacted by resource development, the temperature
and relative humidity data collected in this study could be used as baseline data to compare with data collected after the impact has occurred.
¾ Future research could also explore the relationship between hibernating bat populations and cave structure and microclimate. For example, it could address the question of why Iguana Crypt has higher hibernating populations of bats compared to Cutters Cave.
¾ More research is also needed regarding the ecology of all bats in Manitoba: data on population sizes, roosting preferences, and seasonal distributions.
Table 7: A framework for creating conclusions
CONCLUSIONS
(What the Stakeholders need to do to ensure bat habitat is conserved) THE STAKEHOLDERS
THE